Ole Torvalds

Ole Torvalds (4 August 1916 – 8 February 1995) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish journalist and poet. He was the father of journalist-politician Nils Torvalds and grandfather of software engineer Linus Torvalds famous for the Linux kernel.

His full name was Ole Torvald Elis Saxberg (his mother was Gerda Saxberg), but he was also named Karanko after his step father, Toivo Karanko. His family belongs to the Swedish-speaking minority. In 1935, after matriculating, he moved to Helsinki for studies at the University of Helsinki (until 1939) and changed his name to Torvalds. In 1944 he was awarded a literature prize from Svenska Dagbladet (shared with Harry Martinson, Lars Ahlin and Elly Jannes). He also received the State Prize for Literature in 1954, the Tollander Prize in 1955, and the Falcken Prize in 1974. In 1978 he received an honorary doctorate from Åbo Akademi.

His career as journalist was started as editor of Västra Nyland in Ekenäs, serving as editor from 1939 to 1941 and editor-in-chief from 1941 to 1945, where he stayed until after World War II. From 1946 to 1947, he was a member of the Ekenäs city council. He was also editor-in-chief of the journal Litteratur, Konst, Teater from 1945 to 1948.

He was married to Märta Natalia Fransiska von Wendt from 1940 until their divorce in 1948, and had three children with her. After a divorce he became editor of Österbottningen in Karleby for the period 1947–1948. Then he remarried with Elin Margareta Gyllenberg (Meta Torvalds) in 1948, fathered two more children and later became an editor (1948–1957) of Åbo Underrättelser, of which he was the chief editor from 1958 to 1967. He also served as vice chairman of the Turku authors' association, Turun kirjailijat-Åbo författare.